As pretty much every gamer in the world no doubt already knows, Super Smash Bros. is coming to Nintendo Wii U and 3DS this year. Along with everyone else, we’re itching to play it, but every time we pictured ourselves taking a mallet to Kirby‘s pudgy pink face, the same thoughts kept coming back to bug us: Do we really have to play the game with Wii remotes or the Wii U gamepad? Are we going to have to buy those “pro” pads that we’re frankly not all that fond of?

Thankfully, a series of officially licensed controllers modelled on the Nintendo Gamecube controller that we once loved so dearly is due to arrive sometime around the Wii U game’s launch, and they’re preeetty!Details and photos direct from the E3 show floor after the jump!

There’s a unique challenge for anime professionals working on a franchise with as long a history as Gundam, which aired its first episode 35 years ago. Since each new series does away with the war mechs of its predecessors, designers are always under pressure to come up with giant robots that look more powerful, technologically advanced, and, in the case of the villains’ machines, sinister than what fans have seen before.

With Gundam Unicorn’s NZ-999 Neo Zeong, piloted by baffling-named antagonist (and Toyota owner) Full Frontal, we think the animators did a pretty good job. From its sharp, angular lines, blood-red paint job, and the crevices in the sheet metal produce murky shadows, the mobile armor appears immediately menacing and dangerous.

Unless that is, you remove the head unit and replace it with a cute anime girl or kitty cat.

You know you might be running out of things to be outraged about when a girl without makeup makes you lose your mind.

Recently, a ballet dancer from Denmark made waves in China when she appeared on a talent show to perform an interpretation of the classic fairy tale, The Ugly Duckling. So captivating was the girl’s beauty that apparently the cameramen filming the performance just couldn’t help but focus on her from start to finish.

The already-rapt Chinese Interweb users apparently couldn’t get enough of the girl’s beauty, which led to frantic, borderline-stalker web searches for more of her pictures. Eventually, users then stumbled across photos of her sans-makeup on her personal Instagram page and the Chinese Internet promptly exploded.

So, you’re at a party and having a great time. The girl/guy you’ve had a crush on since you walked in seems to be really into you, the drinks are flowing, and the host is cool. But then you realise you have to poop. Like, really bad.

You excuse yourself, get to the bathroom and do your business only to find that the party’s all-you-can-eat Indian curry and Taco Bell buffet was a little more than your body could handle. Now you’ve got 11 inches of stagnant water staring you down and the romantic interest you were hitting on is knocking on the door saying she’s next in line to pee.

Do you: A) reach for the nearby plunger, B) exit the bathroom complaining loudly about the mess that “someone” left, C) escape through the nearest window, or D) use one of these patented South Korean toilet seals to clean up the whole mess?

By far the most popular series today among Japan’s ultra-hardcore anime fans is Love Live. With a bevy of cute girls, pleated skirts, pop idol competitions, and nary a prominent male character, it’s checked off enough of the necessary boxes to give it a solid pedestal on which its charismatic cast has been placed.

Fans of Love Live even have their own nickname, as it has become common to refer to them as Love Livers. Yes, grammatically that makes no sense, but you can’t expect the franchise’s fan base to stop and correct the odd nomenclature. They’re too busy celebrating the birthdays of Love Live’s dozen-plus idol singers by buying merchandise, sending online salutations, and, in the case of one fan, getting a giant tattoo of his favorite character that covers his entire – and we mean entire – back…

We may no longer have mustachioed merchants trying to sell us snake oil from atop wagons in front of the town saloon, but thanks to the internet there are plenty of miracle cures out there to be sucked in by, particularly when they play on our insecurities. And when that insecurity happens to relate the size of a man’s love muscle, you can bet that even more men than usual are willing to give possible wonder treatments a try.

We’re not usually bad people, but if we had an especially gullible friend who told us that they were looking for a way to increase their membership in the underwear department, this would probably be the joke we’d play on him…

With the 2014 FIFA World Cup all set to start, the 32 qualifying teams are hard at work preparing for the final tournament and getting as many edges over the competition as possible in order to survive to the end.

However, with such drive and passion it’s only natural for some teams to go a little over the line in their preparation from time to time. That’s what seemed to have happened with the Korea Republic national team who came up with the idea of swapping most of their players’ uniform numbers in their games leading up to the tournament in order to protect their strategy from prying eyes of the competition.

I was in the second grade when I first realized that I would some day be tattooed. It wasn’t a particularly big deal to me at the time; just something that I knew I’d eventually get, kind of like a driver’s license. It’s been a few years (okay, over a decade) since my very first tattoo, and I’ve slowly accumulated a bit more ink, though I’m nowhere near finished–something you’ll likely hear from most of the tattooed people you’ll meet.

Naturally, when I became interested in Japan, one of the things that caught my attention was the beautiful art created by the country’s talented tattoo artists, though circumstances have largely conspired to prevent me from collecting any “traditional” Japanese tattoos. However, I recently got the opportunity to get something a bit more “Japanese” and decided to share the experience in order to help you get an idea of what tattooing is like in Japan in case you’re thinking of getting some ink of your own.

Join us after the break for an original, needles-and-all close-up look at what it’s like getting a tattoo in Japan.

Among the myriad colorful subcultures Japan has, anime and cosplay are definitely the more prominent of those that have mesmerized fans across the globe. I don’t know if you think the same, but I think that cosplayers are some of the most passionate people I personally know. Regardless of how bulky their props or how skimpy their costumes are, they’re always ready to strike a pose for the camera.

We’re sure many of you have seen beautiful girls dressed in revealing skin-baring cosplay outfits posing in compromising positions. However, we often forget that sexy cosplays are not just for girls. Serbian artist Borivoje Naumovski reminds us that male cosplayers can be very sexy too! Ladies (and gentlemen), feast your eyes on possibly the hottest Erwin Smith cosplay we’ve seen!

What’s in a name? New parents often look for a name that they hope will embody the spirit of their child or be something that their son or daughter can wear with pride throughout their life, but even the most heartfelt monicker can prove awkward when taken out of context, and can be more funny than beautiful when heard by speakers of other languages.

For Japanese parents, the meaning of kanji characters used for a child’s name are just as important as how it sounds. Recently, however, one young couple had the name they chose for their new baby daughter rejected when they attempted to register it at their local town hall. It was probably a good thing, though, since the characters they had chosen had an altogether different, rather unpleasant, meaning that the couple were completely unaware of.

It’s easy to trace the roots of American football and basketball, as they’re both comparatively recently developed sports. Things get a little more difficult with soccer, though.

While the world’s most popular sport got its first set of standardized competition rules in 1863, courtesy of England’s Football Association, the game had existed in various forms for some time before that. Several countries have since claimed to be the birthplace of soccer, but one now has the official recognition of the president of soccer’s international governing body.

Chinese citizens are often caught urinating and defecating in public places around Hong Kong and mainland China, but that didn’t stop this disapproving male passenger from taking matters into his own hands.

When you stop and think about it, personal grooming should be everything to the man-eating giants of Attack on Titan. After all, it’s not like they can rely on their fashion sense to look their best, since they’re constantly naked.

By nature, though, giants have giant beards. So how do you fight back against so much facial hair? With a whole new branch of Attack on Titan’s military, as documented in three new animated shorts.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you achieve your dream? If that’s got you thinking about a career change, you may want to look to the Land of the Rising Sun because in Japan there are some unusual employment opportunities available. From human dog food testers to bad smell specialists, we’ve found seven surprising jobs for you to consider. And they’re all ready and waiting for you in Japan.

Sailor Moon’s ever-growing Miracle Romance cosmetics range is continuing the 20th anniversary celebrations with news of their most coveted release to date: the Eau de Toilette. Designed for adults, the fragrance features a delightful blend of fruity florals and earthy tones while the packaging includes adorable details fans will love.

Potato chips and chocolate aren’t as obvious of a choice as chips and salsa, but the Royce Confectionary Company in Japan has had a impressive amount of success with their Potato Chip Chocolate snacks. With their sweet and salty flavor combination, these little treats are uncommonly satisfying. And even if you don’t live in Japan, you’re in luck, we have a super simple recipe just for you!Read More

Haven’t you ever secretly wanted to play with a pack of the world’s largest rodent? Even if you’re one of those people who don’t quite understand the allure of the water-loving capybara, a native of South America, the folks at Shizuoka Prefecture’s Izu Shaboten Park are on a mission to change your mind. The park is already famous for its capybara hot spring during the winter months, and it will soon add another capybara-themed attraction to its roster–the “Cabybara Rainbow Plaza,” in which you can actually engage in water play with the animals! How can you pass up this chance to play with Mickey Mouse’s bigger, perpetually spacey-looking cousins??

But don’t book your tickets quite yet, because the “Capybara Rainbow Plaza” opens on July 19. More details after the jump.